In the Bundesliga they are battling together for points with Bayer 04 but they will be on opposite sides in the Africa Cup: Edmond Tapsoba and Odilon Kossounou. The Leverkusen defensive duo head home before New Year to prepare for the continental tournament with their respective national teams.
Tapsoba with Burkina Faso in Group A face Ethiopia, Cape Verde plus Cameroon. The last country is the host and also the first opponent for Tapsoba and Co. The game on Sunday, 9 January (kick-off: 18.00 CET), is also the opening match of the tournament.
Kossounou with the Ivory Coast in Group E will play Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. The Ivorians start against Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday, 12 January (kick-off: 21.00 CET). The Ivory Coast squad is provisional and will be finally confirmed on Christmas Eve. Kossounou is very likely to be included as the Werkself player has been in the Ivory Coast team for five of the last six qualifiers.
The time away from the club starts on 27 December. A total of 24 teams will compete from 9 January for a place in the final that will be played on 6 February (kick-off: 21.00 CET) in the Cameroon capital Yaoundé.
UEFA held the draw for the play-offs in the Europa League in Nyon today. Bayer 04 were not in the draw as the group winners progressed straight to the Round of 16. The Werkself finished top of Group G with 13 points from six games.
16 teams take part in the second round including the eight third-placed teams from the group stage of the Champions League plus the eight group runners-up in the Europa League. The first legs will be played on 17 February with the second legs on 24 February 2022.
The Werkself can play 14 of 16 clubs in the Round of 16 as teams from the same country cannot play each other at that stage of the competition. Real Betis, group opponents of the Gerardo Seoane team, play Russian league leaders Zenit St. Petersburg.
Europa League play-off matches::
Sevilla vs Dinamo Zagreb
Atalanta vs Olympiakos
RB Leipzig vs Real Sociedad
Barcelona vs Napoli
Real Betis vs Zenit St. Petersburg
Borussia Dortmund vs Rangers
FC Porto vs Lazio
A change of coaches at the last Europa League opponents for the Werkself: Ferencvaros, who won 1-0 against Bayer 04 last Thursday, parted company with head coach Peter Stöger on Monday. Ferencvaros suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat at Debreceni VSC yesterday and lost top spot in the OTP Bank Liga.
The 55-year-old Austrian only took charge of the Hungarian champions in the summer. In Germany, Stöger coached FC Köln and Borussia Dortmund.
Bayer 04 congratulate Michal Kadlec on his 37th birthday today (Monday). The former Werkself player joined on loan from Sparta Prague in 2008 and signed permanently in the following season. The defender made 158 appearances for the Werkself and scored 14 goals in those games. The left-footer reached the DFB Cup final with Black and Reds in 2009 and was a runner-up in the league two years later.
The Czech Republic full-back moved on to Turkish top-flight club Fenerbahce in 2013/14. Kadlec has been at Czech first division club FC Slovacko since 2018. Many happy returns.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career working as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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Bayer 04 host top French club Marseille at the BayArena on matchday four in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League group stage. The match kicks off on Thursday 5 November at 21:00 CET. The latest information on ticket sales.
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The BAYER 04 HILFT Day is celebrating an anniversary: for the tenth year running, a large number of employees of the Bundesliga club have been getting involved in a community project in Leverkusen and the surrounding area. Following the refurbishment of the city library last year, this time around some 70 staff members rolled up their sleeves to help out at the Bunker Youth Centre in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf. With the support of the Lebenshilfe workshops in Leverkusen and partner Coca-Cola, a rubber football pitch was laid, a Bayer 04-style lounge was created and other projects were carried out. Werkself players and coaching staff also gave their all.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen and sponsors club partner NRG24 are continuing their partnership, which has been in place since the summer of 2023. The Bundesliga football club and the energy consultancy firm have extended their successful partnership until 30 June 2027.
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